


Priorities

by I May Age Regress (shnuffeluv)



Series: Gibbs' Family [75]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Age Play, Boundaries, Gen, Healthy Relationships, Non-Sexual Age Play, Platonic Relationships, Tony DiNozzo & Jethro Gibbs Father-Son Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-14
Updated: 2018-11-14
Packaged: 2019-08-23 10:50:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16617554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shnuffeluv/pseuds/I%20May%20Age%20Regress
Summary: Tony and Gibbs have a little talk about what Tony needs to remember when it comes to his priorities. Tony then has to apply what he's learned...and he can only hope he's doing it right.





	Priorities

Tony was watching Papa with interest. He had been pacing, muttering to himself for a while now. Tony was pretty sure Papa didn't know he was awake, or at least that he wasn't by the front door instead of upstairs, because he was growling, and Tony wasn't sure but he thought Papa might have been saying naughty words under his breath. Tony softly cleared his throat and Papa's eyes snapped to him. "Tony," Papa said, voice dangerously neutral. "Couldn't sleep?"

"Not really," Tony said. "Brain's still...weird. Scared, I guess."

Papa nodded. "Me too, kid. Honestly, me too."

With everything that had happened with the Benoit operation, it was no small surprise. Tony's car exploding and subsequently blowing his cover, the sting as Jeanne tried to make him choose between his family and her, it was hard for Tony to rest. He couldn't imagine how Papa must have felt when he thought Tony was dead. Tony shuffled on his feet. "What's Papa thinking about?" he asked softly.

Papa sighed. "I need...I need a way to teach you that you're more important than any case, any operation you go on," he said. "Because telling you over and over isn't gonna work. We need...to sort out our priorities."

"Priorities?" Tony asked.

"Yeah, Tony. Because you're more important than a case. You should have bailed that operation the second you could smell blood in the water. But you stayed for the sake of the case, and because you got attached, and it almost got you killed," Papa said. "But how do I show you that you're more important than that?"

"Make a list?" Tony offered. "Lists are easy to see and follow. That sort of thing works for Timmy, mostly."

Papa paused, and considered Tony's idea. "Okay," he said. "Okay, we can work with that kind of list. Come into the dining room, I'll grab paper and pencils and we can work on a list of priorities, and how important everything is compared to everything else."

Tony nodded, walking to the dining room and getting settled at the table. He was tired, but his body was wide awake, and he hated not being able to sleep when it happened like this, because it guaranteed that he would wake up tired.

Papa came into the room holding a pad of lined paper and pencils. "Okay. We should get started now and see if you can't fall asleep in a little bit," Papa said, taking one of the pencils and tearing a page of paper off of the pad. "So. In terms of  _your_  priorities, you should  _always_  come first."

Tony's eyebrows knit together as he frowned. "Wait, what? Why?"

"Because taking care of yourself is important," Papa said. "None of this other stuff matters if you can't do it because you ran yourself into the ground. You should always be your first priority."

"But...but what about Papa and Timmy and Abby and Ducky and Jimmy?" Tony asked. "I want to help them! I want to help  _you_!"

"You can absolutely help us, kid, but not at the expense of yourself. If it's going to hurt you to help us, you are absolutely allowed to say no, and that you need to take care of yourself first," Papa explained. "In fact, if your help is going to hurt you, you really  _shouldn't_ say yes to what we're asking you to do. For your sake."

"But...but...I want you guys to like me still..." Tony said.

Papa sighed and grabbed one of Tony's hands with his own free one. "Kiddo, we'll love you no matter what, okay? We might sometimes be disappointed you can't help, but all of us will understand that if you can't do it, you have to come first. No one would ever protest you taking care of yourself."

Tony mulled that over. It sounded fake, just a little bit, but he knew Papa was usually right about these things. And, when other people weren't able to help  _him_ , he didn't hate  _them_  for it, so why would they hate him for doing the same thing? They would only do that if they were being selfish. He nodded. "Okay, I guess. But you guys come second. Always."

Papa smiled. "All right, I can live with that. After yourself, and us, what comes next for you?"

Tony shrugged. "Work, I guess."

"Okay, work," Papa said, writing that down. "Anything else after that?"

"Friends, probably. And then fun things and playing. I can go a while without playing if need be," Tony said.

"All right," Papa said, holding the paper up. "I can't think of anything else at the moment, but we can add to this and change it if need be. Sound good?"

Tony nodded. He yawned. "I wanna sleep," he grumbled.

"Yeah? I don't blame you, it's late," Papa said. "Let's get you back to bed, we can talk about this more in the morning."

Tony nodded, and made his way up to his bed, barely registering Papa's "good night" before he fell asleep.

* * *

The priorities list came up much faster than DiNozzo ever thought it would. He was tired after a week of back-to-back cases, and he needed to go home, take a nice shower, and sleep for maybe ten hours. McGee was growling at his desk and Ziva kept sending him glances. "Something the matter, McGee?" she asked.

"Stupid computer isn't accepting my reports, and I have to have them in by next Friday," McGee said. "I've been trying to send them all week with no luck, and the diagnostics on the computer have said nothing's wrong, when something is very clearly wrong."

"You might need you hand-write your reports this time, McGoo," DiNozzo said with a yawn. "Tedious as that is."

McGee's eyes widened in horror and he shook his head. "Please, no. Tony, you can give me an extension, can't you? Please, I'll do just about anything."

DiNozzo thought about it with a barely concealed grimace. He could, honestly, but it would take a lot of wheedling at the paper pushers and he'd have to do it tonight so it didn't seem like he was covering for a slacking coworker. Gibbs' words came into his head almost immediately: "In terms of your priorities, you should always come first."

It hurt him to say it, but he really did need to leave as soon as he was able to if he didn't want to push himself beyond his limits. "I'm really sorry, Tim, but I can't tonight. I've been pushed too much all week and I need the break of the weekend ASAP."

To his mild surprise, McGee didn't get angry or shout, though he gave a resigned sigh. "Yeah, I get that. It's okay, I'll just...hand-write them starting Monday, if the problem isn't fixed by then. Not the end of the world."

DiNozzo just nodded and turned back to his own work, confused and surprised. It wasn't like McGee was one to get angry, but he had expected a bit of a fight. He expected a little guilt, a little more pushing. Most people were like that, at least. But McGee just...accepted the explanation, like nothing else was needed, and he could just fall back on his Plan B. Which...DiNozzo supposed that's what had happened. That was weird. Things were actually working like they did in the movies or on TV. Healthy relationships and boundaries existed.

_Trippy_ , DiNozzo thought to himself.

"Everyone, go home," Gibbs said, coming into the bullpen. "Abby doesn't have anything new on the cold cases and won't until at least Monday. Get some rest over the weekend."

DiNozzo let out a breath and sagged in relief, before quickly turning everything off and heading out the door. McGee followed him, and managed to slide into the elevator just as it was closing. "Hey...I think that might have been the first time you said no to me when I was asking a favor, back there," he said.

Was this when McGee was going to press? When they were alone? DiNozzo honestly thought higher of his probie than that. "What's your point?" DiNozzo asked.

"Well, there isn't one, I guess. I was just...curious. Why haven't you said no before, and what caused you to say no then? You've pushed yourself beyond your limits before, don't act like you haven't," McGee said.

"There's this new thing Gibbs is making me try," DiNozzo said, glancing at McGee as they walked out of the lobby of NCIS. "It's basically a list of priorities and how I'm supposed to set my boundaries from there. According to him, I'm at the top of the list."

"Good," McGee said. "You should be."

DiNozzo shrugged. "Gonna take some getting used to. But that's just  _my_  personal list. You know, you should come first on yours?"

"I don't have a priorities list," McGee said.

"Maybe you should make one," DiNozzo offered.

McGee stopped in the middle of the parking lot, and sighed. "Listen, Tony...I appreciate you trying to look out for me, but I really don't need it, all right? I'm just fine where I am in life, and I've gotten this far without having those sorts of lists. If you use them, good on you, but I just...don't think they're for me."

DiNozzo shrugged. "Okay, that's fair enough. But...you should come first, still. Because if you aren't at one hundred percent, how are you supposed to help anyone else out?"

"I operate just fine at about seventy percent," McGee laughed. "I appreciate it, though, Tony. Knowing you care means a lot."

DiNozzo wanted to argue more, but he knew that it would get him nowhere except burnt out, so he just let it go with a sigh. He still needed to go home and sleep.

* * *

The second time his priorities list came up, DiNozzo was a bit more accustomed to the thought of it. Gibbs had been drilling it into him that he should come first, both when he was big  _and_  little. And even if DiNozzo didn't  _always_  believe it, he was starting to believe it most of the time, which was good for his self-esteem.

An agent from the floor below them was pressing DiNozzo, hoping to get him to supervise a mission on a night where he already had plans to decompress at Gibbs'. And she just would not. Let. Up. "--It would help a lot to have an agent with your experience and seniority on the mission, and you wouldn't even have to go undercover, just monitor the wire."

"Look, Cindi," DiNozzo said, holding a hand up when she paused for breath. "I really appreciate the offer--really. It's nice to know people think of me when they think of people they'd like on their short list for help. But even if I didn't already have plans, I've been taking long shifts. And I need the break of those plans that night, because I know that without it, I probably would be working. On top of that, after the work day I would be hungry, tired, and not the kind of back-up anyone would want."

"The agency needs--"

"--Someone other than me," DiNozzo said, cutting her off. "My needs come before those of the agency as a whole, and I need the break if I want to work as hard as I can the next day. I'm  _helping_  the agency by taking the night off. If you can reschedule the op for another night, maybe I'll be able to help. If not, just, please, find someone else. You're wasting your time trying to get me to help."

Cindi stalked off and DiNozzo felt eyes on the back of his neck. "I do you proud, Boss?" he asked.

"Very," Gibbs said, rounding the partition and stopping in front of DiNozzo's desk. "It's good to see you setting up boundaries for yourself. Makes me feel better about you."

"You flatter me," DiNozzo said, turning back to his paperwork.

"I'm serious, DiNozzo," Gibbs said. "You saying no to things you know you can't do takes a weight off my shoulders. And I'm sure yours, as well."

DiNozzo shrugged. "It'll take some time and practice, but I'll get it down eventually, hopefully."

"I know you will. You've got the strong will, you just need to hold yourself in higher regard than you had been. You are, after all, important."

DiNozzo chuckled. At Gibbs' questioning look, DiNozzo leaned back and said, "Oh, I just wish I had that on video."

"You wish, Tony," Gibbs said with a shake of his head and a smile. "Back to work, DiNozzo. You're getting a break later this week, you can make it until then. And if not, all you have to do is say so."

"I know," DiNozzo said, and his heart warmed at the thought that Gibbs genuinely cared for his well-being.


End file.
